Listen....Bad Impeller??

[troylevy]

Hey gang. Here are sound clips of my engines running. The fist is the starboard and the second is the port. Am I crazy or does the starboard sound bad? It’s a 2013 242 with right at 100hrs. Today I changed oil, filters and plugs. I also greased the what I think was the impellers using the zerk fittings in rear of engine bay. I was going to move to inspect and thought I would get some insight from the forum before hand. Thoughts?

 

[Beachbummer]

Impeller is rarely bad on its own. Consider setting the lever to forward and looking to the pump with a flashlight to see if you see anything odd. Perhaps the liner has swollen a bit? Worst case the impeller shaft seems loose and the bearings are on their way out, but that would be rare. Maybe some foreign object making noise? **with engine off** can you hold/shake/wiggle the shaft via the clean out and confirm it feels solid and does not move?

Observe more with the gate fully opened and let us know what you see.

Best of Luck!

 

[BrentEB]

I also have a 2013 boat. Unfortunately some of the stainless steel impeller liners, which are pressed into aluminum housings, I believe, will deform into the impeller space due to corrosion between the housing and the liner. It will make one hell of a racket when it occurs. It won't go away, so figure on replacing the liner(s). The new liners are a tech plastic rather than stainless so in a sense will be carved to fit by the impellers. I have one installed but not enough time to see how it holds up. An easy job unless something breaks.

 

[troylevy]

Thanks for the input. I looked closer and no debris. Quit possibly the wear ring. Can I replace just the ring or do I need the entire housing? Can I run the boat a few more hours before replacing or is this something that needs immediate attention. Got a big boating weekend coming up and won’t have time to work on this this week.

 

[Beachbummer]

It's not super difficult to remove the pump to check more closely. If It was me I would remove and examine closely, potentially some steel wool or sandpaper could remove the bump? If replacing, I think the ring is pressed in place and that whole piece needs replacement (Not the whole pump, but the entire casting that holds the ring+the ring, sold as one piece, would need to be replaced)

I bet if you remove and file a little on the high side you will be ready for your trip.

If you have a big trip coming up and can't afford the 2 hours it's going to take, I would not cancel the trip, but that's just me.

 

[troylevy]

Impeller is rarely bad on its own. Consider setting the lever to forward and looking to the pump with a flashlight to see if you see anything odd. Perhaps the liner has swollen a bit? Worst case the impeller shaft seems loose and the bearings are on their way out, but that would be rare. Maybe some foreign object making noise? **with engine off** can you hold/shake/wiggle the shaft via the clean out and confirm it feels solid and does not move?

Observe more with the gate fully opened and let us know what you see.

Best of Luck!

Impeller is rarely bad on its own. Consider setting the lever to forward and looking to the pump with a flashlight to see if you see anything odd. Perhaps the liner has swollen a bit? Worst case the impeller shaft seems loose and the bearings are on their way out, but that would be rare. Maybe some foreign object making noise? **with engine off** can you hold/shake/wiggle the shaft via the clean out and confirm it feels solid and does not move?

Observe more with the gate fully opened and let us know what you see.

Best of Luck!

So I checked both shafts via the clean out and they both feel solid, but both have slight play when I try to “spin” in either direction. The starboard (rough sounding side) has just a hair more play. Should there be any play in the impeller shafts?

 

[Beachbummer]

It's splined to mate with the internal shaft, so a slight bit of play in that direction is not abnormal. Any luck observing the ring with a flashlight and the lever in forward? most likely answer is the ring has swollen a little. See if the clearance between the pump and the impeller looks even throughout the circumference of the impeller.

 

[troylevy]

Thanks BB. I did see what I thought was surface scratches in the ring liner. I need to pull the pump assembly out and inspect closer, but I’m thinking that’s the culprit and will just replace both pump housings. Is there one or a certain type that most people are going with over others? I can search myself too.

 

[Beachbummer]

I haven't had to replace mine on this boat yet, but there is plenty of search history on it. You can replace with OEM or get a plastic lined one, then you can replace the plastic liner, but if you suck rocks from time to time the plastic tends to get chewed up also. Ford vs Chevy, Merit on both sides, yada yada...Search and decide what's best for you.

 

[BrentEB]

Last August the OE type with stainless steel was not available. The "new" Yamaha version has a plastic ring. I don't think the ring itself is replaceable but could be wrong.

 

[troylevy]

Looks like the pump housing with plastic wear ring is the most affordable option. I see they sell replacement wear rings separately which tells me you can indeed switch them out. Not sure how easy or hard that process is. Can I get away with changing just the side giving me problems or should I change both pump housings at same time for consistency?

 

[BrentEB]

That's not a Yamaha brand ring, is it.

It's perfectly fine to just change out the one side.

 

[troylevy]

That's not a Yamaha brand ring, is it.

It's perfectly fine to just change out the one side.

Thanks, I ordered two and will decide whether to change my port side based on inspection. As far as using an aftermarket brand, I’d love to get some additional input from the forum on going with an aftermarket housing vs. OEM.

 

[BrentEB]

All I was getting at was the Yama has a fixed liner. I've no experience with the aftermarket brands.

 

[Mikem]

Thanks, I ordered two and will decide whether to change my port side based on inspection. As far as using an aftermarket brand, I’d love to get some additional input from the forum on going with an aftermarket housing vs. OEM.

I have a 2012 Limited S with only 160 hours and I just noticed the exact same sound your's was making in the video. Which replacement housings did you go with? Any feedback on them? Also, did you end up having to replace any of the bearing kits or seals? I've never taken the pump apart, just got the boat this summer. Thank you

Update: I spent the night researching how to take the impeller housing appart to check for wear or other issues. The cone cap on my 2012 with 160hr seem to be in good condition, no water in the cap, factory color grease which felt somewhat viscus still and not to runny, bearing looked okay as well. I had a heck of time get the units all apart, so much built up oxidation and the factory seal maker was very hard. It took about 2 hours to break it down. I looked at the wear ring, sorry I must of not took a photo of that part, but I couldn't find an swelling or worn areas. just a few small, very small scuffs from what look like sand. I also checked for signs of detachment between the aluminum and steel part, nothing noticeable at all. What I did notice was a good amount of oxidation build up as you can see in the photos. The previous owner had a slip, so the oxidation seems to have made its way into the the wear housing. I took 60 grit sand paper and spent another hour just hand sanding the inside of the wear ring and all the face to face surfaces that would need to be resealed upon assembly. I also lightly sanded the impeller and removed oxidation there as well.

I dry tested the unit by spinning it drive shaft and impeller in the housing, no noise, no grinding, and spun freely. I reassembled the pump assembly, added some extra marine grease to cone, and fired up the motor. The noise was GONE, and I was very pleased! I then went about apply my second coat of Rejex, another 2 hours in the sun and heat. Wife came home, so I thought I would show her the noise issue was fixed, fired up the motor, and the noise was back.... total bummer....

At this point, I'm thinking the heat from the afternoon has caused enough expansion where wear housing still rubs with impeller... I have no other idea why it would have been fine in the morning, when cooler outside, than in the heat and expansion. I have 2 new OE impeller housing on order, hope that fixes the issue. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

On a positive note, the Rejex coating looks fantastic!

 

[troylevy]

Sorry for delay in responding with my update. I ended up pulling my starboard pump to further inspect. I found some abrasions on the wear ring and could not get the impeller to make a complete spin in housing with getting stuck. Based on that I replaced the housing. I ordered this one that has the white plastic replaceable wear ring.

Yamaha Wear Ring Impeller Pump... Amazon.com: Yamaha Wear Ring Impeller Pump Housing GP GPR 1200 1300 1200R 1300R: Automotive

I tested it with the impeller in my work bench and It spun freely. Like you I was pretty excited. I also replaced the port side just so they would match. Once back together with everything torqued to spec. I fired engines up with hose to them and they sounded like a thing of beauty. The rough sound was gone. I had boat in the water this weekend and she runs quieter with no issues. My only regret is that I did not pull the cone and check/grease the bearings. Saving that for when the season ends I guess.

 

[JTrottaNY]

I have not messed with a Yamaha but I did replace the impeller and wear ring on my Seadoo. Seadoo uses a plastic liner OE and the aftermarket offers stainless wear rings. There was always a debate among the Seadoo guys about which was better- the arguments for each was that; with stainless you could achieve might tighter/consistent tolerance to the impeller (arguably better performance) but they were more expensive and the plastic works as a sacrificial wear item- if you suck something into the pump you're more likely to damage a plastic wear ring and possibly save the impeller vs a stainless ring that you were more likely to damage the (more expensive) impeller.

replacing the wear rings wasn't too bad- on a Seadoo you would cut it 3/4 of the way through (from the inside out towards the housing) with a sawzall then bend the edge of the ring inward and pull it out. Put the new ring in the freezer and it would drive into the pump housing with little effort. If you can buy the pump housing with a ring already installed, its just another way Yamaha had improved the ease of maintenance over Seadoo!